Why Is Branding Important?

Owning your own business is an adventure filled with all sorts of challenges. One of the toughest ones is establishing your brand. Branding can be defined as the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol, or design that differentiates a product from other products. Take Apple for example, there are very few people that aren’t familiar with their logo, which in turn helps them generate sales. Pretty simple stuff, simple enough for you to implement on your business. This doesn’t mean you’ll be as successful as Apple by establishing your brand alone, but it’s a step in the right direction. Here are a few of the perks of establishing your brand.

Familiarity Breeds Trust.

It’s no secret that us humans are creatures of habit. If you already know you can expect excellent service at your go to car dealership, why try your luck with a different one? But say you are a first time buyer who’s still undecided as to where to buy from. If the dealership has done its marketing homework, you’d have already heard about them on the radio, TV, Facebook, or what have you. Just the fact that you’re familiar with the name will steer you towards that specific business.

A Strong Brand Generates Referrals.

Let’s go stick with the car dealership example. You’re looking to buy a car for the first time and you don’t know where to go first. If you haven’t heard any car dealership radio ads so far, I’d dare say your next idea would be to ask someone you trust for a recommendation. Your friends and family are only going to recommend something that has worked for them in the past. Word of mouth can make or break your marketing strategy, which brings me to my next point.

Your Brand Represents Your Company’s Values.

One very important question I always ask before starting a project for a client is “What makes your business different?” Most of the time the answer is something simple like, “Every tenth sub is free.” or “We have free coffee AND bagels, other companies just have bagels.” While this may seem like a run of the mill answer, It goes much deeper than that. Giving your customers a free meal every now and then means your business appreciates and rewards their loyalty. Going the extra mile to provide French onion bagels means you are willing to spend a little money to make sure your clients are extra comfortable. These are things your potential customers should know that will help them give you their business over some other company with undefined values.

Branding will help your business regardless of what stage it’s in, whether it’s starting out, expanding, or trying to stay afloat. Sometimes your name may be all you have to keep you going. But if it’s a good name, that’s all you’ll need.